Fantasy Football Analysis for Champions by The Champion!

July 28, 2017

Washington Redskins Fantasy Football Preview

The Washington Redskins have a lot of controversy surrounding them. The on-going issue with their team name and the drama related to signing their starting quarterback in particular. The one thing that won’t be a controversy is that the Redskins are going to have a lot of Fantasy Football relevant players to help them hopefully make the playoffs again this season.

Must Draft Players

Kirk Cousins – Quarterback

Terrelle Pryor – Wide Receiver

Jamison Crowder – Wide Receiver

Jordan Reed – Tight End

The Redskins are making a huge mistake in my opinion of not locking Kirk Cousins up to a long-term deal. They are having him play under the franchise tag again this season, which means he’s being paid more this year than most quarterbacks in the NFL. And realistically, he’s earned it from the last two seasons of being the starting quarterback. Cousins has averaged 4,542 yards and 27 touchdowns as the starter for the last two seasons. He has also managed to rush for an additional 5 touchdowns each season. That means every game he has played he has averaged 23.4 points per game for Fantasy Football owners. I do think the passing touchdown numbers will increase this season, making him even more valuable!

Terrelle Pryor came into the NFL as a quarterback and didn’t do much at the position. He decided to play wide receiver to ensure that he would have a shot at being an NFL player. That switch was the best decision of his career. In his first season as a wide receiver, he finished the year with 77 receptions for 1,007 yards and 4 touchdowns. This was also while he was playing for the Browns! With a better quarterback throwing him the ball, and 216 targets that left the team in free agency, Pryor could be in line for a much better season!

Jamison Crowder was the fourth option in the passing game last year. Even being down in the depth chart, he had 67 receptions for 847 yards and 7 touchdowns. Crowder is also heading into the all-important 3rd year for a wide receiver. That is usually when a receiver makes the jump into an elite receiver, and I think Crowder can make that jump.

Jordan Reed has a lot of injury concerns. In 4 seasons with the Redskins he has missed 28% of the games played. But when he plays he is a difference maker at tight end like Rob Gronkowski is. While his averages per season don’t look great because he has never played a full season, in 2015 he had 87 receptions for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he only missed 2 games that season. If he played all 16 games, his totals would have been closer to 99 receptions for 1,088 yards and 13 touchdowns. That’s better than most wide receivers!

Players You Should Probably Be Drafting

Robert Kelly – Running Back

Samaje Perine – Running Back

As a team, the Washington Redskins had 1,696 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns among everyone who rushed the ball last year. Robert Kelly had 704 yards and 6 touchdowns of that total. What I don’t understand is that the everyone in the Fantasy Football community believes that Samaje Perine is going to steal the job from Kelly. Perine’s production in college dropped every season leading to being drafted, and the Redskins didn’t take him until the 4th round. Perine has some work to do to be the starting running back, but both running backs should be drafted because sometimes you just need to believe the hype!

Players You Could Draft If Your Rosters are Deep

Josh Doctson – Wide Receiver

Vernon Davis – Tight End

In his rookie season, Josh Doctson finished with 2 receptions for 66 yards in 2 games. He was hurt most of the year, so we really have no way to determine what he will really do in the Redskins’ offense. He is worth a late round flyer to see what happens week 1, but he’ll be the first player you drop the Tuesday after opening weekend if he sucks.

Vernon Davis is worth drafting if you’re the Jordan Reed owner as Davis was great when Reed was out. He finished with 44 receptions for 543 yards and 2 touchdowns last season, which was good enough for 7 points per game. If he is on your waiver wire when Jordan Reed gets hurt, grab him!